Tag: Bette Midler

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Twitter Round-Up: Weekend Edition

Some really fun stuff on Twitter lately, so I thought I’d share some of my favorites:

And then there was this exchange between woofy Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims and out recording artist Bright Light Bright Light that made my morning:

And while we’re on the subject of Bright Light Bright Light, check out his synth-pop version of the holiday classic, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” released in 2017.

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Adam Lambert & Queen Announced To Perform At 2019 Oscars

Adam Lambert (image via Flickr/Tatianka1986)

The Oscars are promising a virtual homo-goulash of LGBTQ music artists and favorites when the 91st annual Academy Awards take place on Sunday, February 24.

This morning, the Academy announced that iconic rock band Queen, fronted by out singer Adam Lambert, will stage to the stage at the 2019 Oscars.

The Academy paired the lyric, “Is this real life? Is this just fantasy?,” with video footage of Lambert and Queen performing “We Will Rock You” in a post on Twitter Monday morning.

Lambert first met and performed with original Queen band members Roger Taylor and Brian May while competing on the talent competition American Idol in 2009. In 2012, the band invited Lambert to tour as frontman.

The appearance will clearly be a tribute to the Freddie Mercury musical biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, which is nominated in five categories on Sunday including Best Picture, Best Actor (front runner Rami Malek), Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing.

The rockers will join previously announced performers Bette Midler, Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Hudson, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, who will perform songs nominated for Best Original Song.

Midler , a two-time Oscar nominee (The Rose, For The Boys) tweeted her news this weekend, writing, “So, (drum roll) Ladies and Gentlemen, I will be chanteusing (that’s singing) on the Oscars on Feb 24…the nominated song from ‘Mary Poppins’…’The Place Where Lost Things Go’ …so excited!!”

Gaga and Cooper will reprise the Grammy and Golden Globe-winning duet, “Shallow” from A Star is Born (a pretty sure bet to win the trophy); Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) will perform “I’ll Fight” from the documentary RBG; and nominees Rawlings & Welch will sing “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Tune in this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT for the 91st Academy Awards on ABC.

(h/t Hollywood Reporter)

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Hillary Clinton Receives Standing Ovation At Broadway’s ‘Hello, Dolly!’

Hillary Clinton attended last night's performance of Hello, Dolly! on Broadway and received a standing ovation as she took her seat.
Hillary Clinton arrives at Hello, Dolly! on Broadway (image via JoeMyGod)

Hillary Clinton attended last night’s performance of Hello, Dolly! on Broadway and received a standing ovation as she took her seat.

The audience and the cast – again headed up by Tony Award winner Bette Midler – were thrilled.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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News Round-Up: July 2, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• I’m going to try this next time Michael is wrong and starts a disagreement – InstaHunks Rick and the Griffopotamus shared this pic today with the caption, “It was one of those Monday’s where every little annoyance felt like it would blow up into an argument. We decided to just keep our mouths busy doing other things… problem solved! #relationshipHack #husbands #lovewins #kiss #mondaymotivation”

• A gay couple in Ireland was attacked and brutally beaten by a gang of four young men. One of the victims suffered broken jaw bones, lost four front teeth and has nerve damage.

• Bette Midler, of all people, was accused of homophobia when she joked on Twitter about Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Trump and Putin are meeting in Finland next month. That’s a long way to travel for a blowjob, but hey — Putin’s got the money.”

• Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former attorney and “fixer,” told ABC News that his loyalties lie with his family and country, not his former client.

• Congressional Democrats are asking the Pentagon why there was no official memo recognizing June as Pride Month nor was there any senior leadership at the annual Pride event. The concern is the lack of recognition marks a decline in LGBTQ support.

• Speaking at a rally for immigration reform this weekend, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) slapped back at Trump supporters calling for death threats against her:

“All I have to say is this: If you shoot me, you better shoot straight. There’s nothin’ like a wounded animal. I am not about to let this country go by the way of Donald Trump. How dare you? How dare you?”

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Bette Midler Will Return To HELLO, DOLLY! For Final 6 Weeks On Broadway

Bette Midler in "Hello, Dolly!" on Broadway
Bette Midler in “Hello, Dolly!” on Broadway

The Associated Press is reporting that when Bette Midler sang “So Long Dearie” to her blockbuster Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! she really meant “See you in a while” as producers have announced that the Tony Award-winner will return for a six-week run before the production closes August 25.

Bernadette Peters, who took up the mantle of “Dolly Levi” after Bette departed in January will continue in the role until July 15. The Divine Miss M will be “back where she belongs” beginning July 17.

Additionally, co-stars David Hyde Pierce and Gavin Creel back as well.

Creel wan the Tony Award for “Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical” for his performance as “Cornelius Hackl,” and Pierce earned a Tony nod as “Horace Vandergelder.”

We won’t be saying goodbye to Dolly any time soon though.

Fans eagerly await the first national tour of “Hello, Dolly!” which will star Tony Award-winner Betty Buckley when it kicks off in October at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio.

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Podcast: America’s 1st Out Winter Olympian, Possible Once-A-Week HIV Pill On The Horizon, Bette Midler Says “So Long” To Hello, Dolly!

In this week’s Randy Report podcast:

• America has it’s first openly gay Winter Olympian – figure skater Adam Rippon

• The Human Rights Campaign released its annual report ranking state LGBT rights and protections

• A possible once a week pill for HIV patients looks promising in testing studies

• A Wisconsin school district is dropping its challenge to a transgender student’s lawsuit for bathroom privileges

• Woofy out Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy stars in a new Head & Shoulders commercial touting all kinds of pride

• Bette Midler says “So long, dearie” to Hello, Dolly! on Broadway

All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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Bernadette Peters To Succeed Bette Midler In Broadway’s “Hello, Dolly!”

Bernadette Peters

Two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters will succeed Bette Midler as “Dolly Levi” in the blockbuster Broadway revival of Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly!

 Additionally, Broadway favorite Victor Garber will replace David Hyde Pierce as “Horace Vandergelder.”

From Variety:

The casting, which had been the subject of persistent rumors in the theater industry, was seemingly confirmed Tuesday morning in a social media post, now removed, that said that Peters and Victor Garber would join the cast early next year. By Tuesday evening, the producers of “Hello, Dolly!,” led by Scott Rudin, had confirmed that Peters would step into the role. Garber, who would presumably replace Midler’s co-star David Hyde Pierce, was not mentioned in the confirmation.

The question of who would replace Bette Midler in “Dolly!,” one of the top-selling shows on Broadway, has been a hot topic of speculation this summer. In the theater-industry rumor mill, a slew of names made the rounds — including Dolly Parton and Sutton Foster — but by August, Peters, last on Broadway in the 2011 production of “Follies,” began to look like the frontrunner. At the time, the comment from Scott Rudin, the show’s lead producer, was the coy, “There’s no replacement for Bette.”

But earlier on Tuesday, Garber’s husband, Rainer Andreesen, mentioned the “Dolly” casting in a comment on an Instagram post. That post has since been removed, but a screenshot remains.

Like Donna Murphy, who currently plays the role of Dolly for one performance a week, Peters and Garber are fan favorites among theater lovers. Peters, who’s won two Tony Awards, has starred in a string of notable productions, including the original stagings of “Sunday in the Park With George” and “Into the Woods,” while Garber, who stars in CW series “Legends of Tomorrow,” has appeared in Broadway shows including “Deathtrap,” “Noises Off” and, most recently, “Present Laughter” in 2010.

In terms of box office impact, Midler, who’s kept sales in the stratosphere since the show began performances in the spring, will be a tough act to follow. It’s uncertain that Peters would keep weekly grosses as high, but at the very least she’d get an initial boost from theater avids anxious to see her in the role. The revival, one of the last season’s biggest buzzmagnets, also seems likely to benefit from the momentum built up for the title itself over the course of its big-money run.

Peters begins her run in “Hello, Dolly!” Jan. 20 prior to an opening night set for Feb. 22. Midler plays her final performance in “Dolly!” Jan. 14; there will be no performances between then and Peters’ start date.

Two-time Tony Award winner Donna Murphy, who performs the role of “Dolly Levi” at select performances including all Tuesdays to rave reviews, will take her last trip down the Harmonia Gardens staircase on January 9, 2018.

Peters will reportedly be performing all 8 performances a week.

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My 2017 Tony Awards Recap

I enjoyed last night’s Tony Awards broadcast muchly.

For one thing, rather than one of those year’s where one show dominates heavily (Hamilton, Chicago, The Producers), for the most part the Tony voters seemed happy to share the wealth among several productions. And I like that. The Tonys are, in great part, a marketing tool to help shows run, and when everyone is acknowledged for excellent work, the entire theater community wins.

All in all, I agreed with just about every winner (I hate using that word) in each category.

Other random thoughts:

• It’s ridiculous that the Choreographer category isn’t presented during the telecast. I won’t qualify artistic contributions among team mates, but the choreographer (the most physically demanding position on a creative team) creates highly complex storytelling without the use of spoken language. The number from Andy Blankenbuehler’s Bandstand was easily a standout among all the numbers featured last night. Also, look at the popularity of dance today across the country (So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With The Stars). There’s intense interest in the art form.

For those who didn’t see Andy’s acceptance speech:

Check out Dr. Jill Biden (huge standing ovation) introducing “Nobody” from Bandstand. This is excellent choreography 🙂

• Whether it was Bette Midler demurring or producer Scott Rudin not wanting to “give away the goods,” it was a shame there was no production number from this year’s biggest hit,  Hello, Dolly!

 • While I miss seeing excerpts from the nominated plays, I did enjoy seeing the playwrights introduced and being allowed to speak about their shows.

• The In Memoriam was handled with taste and grace. Thank you.

• The two most memorable speeches (vastly different in tone) were:

Ben Platt winning “Best Actor in a Musical” for Dear Evan Hansen – “To all young people watching at home, don’t waste any time trying to be like anybody but yourself. The things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful.”

And Bette Midler’s four minute filibuster (“Shut that crap off!”) for “Best Actress in a Musical” for Hello, Dolly!:

• Kevin Spacey did a good job as host. Brilliant? Maybe not, but he was solid and brings aesthetic weight to the stage. I wasn’t a huge fan of the impersonation schtick, but I know there were producers and writers making a lot of those decisions, so… Much is being made about his “in the closet” jokes. On one hand folks seem to be of the opinion he’s basically out to everyone but the masses, so he should be be out; on the other hand, he’s dealt with the rumors for years and if he wants to joke about them, whatever.

Ratings? From BroadwayWorld.com:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ratings for this year’s telecast were down 31 percent from last year’s show. According to Nielsen overnight returns, the telecast averaged a 4.7 rating among metered market households, almost tying for the Tony broadcast from five years ago. The numbers appear to be strong enough to top NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals, although they may fall short of winning in the Adult 18-49 demo.

In comparison, the 2016 TONY AWARDS reached a 15-year viewership high, averaging a 6.8 rating among households in overnight returns, ultimately delivering 8.7 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49.

Click here to see many of the performances and acceptance speeches.

Here’s the full list of the artists who took home awards last night:

Best musical: “Dear Evan Hansen”

Best play: “Oslo”

Best revival of a play: “August Wilson’s Jitney”

Best revival of a musical: “Hello, Dolly!”

Best book of a musical: “Dear Evan Hansen,” Steven Levenson

Best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater: “Dear Evan Hansen,” Music and lyrics: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

Tony Awards 2017: Highlights, winners and best moments
Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical: Ben Platt, “Dear Evan Hansen”

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical: Bette Midler, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play: Kevin Kline, “Present Laughter”

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play: Laurie Metcalf, “A Doll’s House, Part 2”

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play: Michael Aronov, “Oslo”

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play: Cynthia Nixon, “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes”

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical: Gavin Creel, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical: Rachel Bay Jones, “Dear Evan Hansen”

Best scenic design of a play: Nigel Hook, “The Play That Goes Wrong”

Best scenic design of a musical: Mimi Lien, “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”

Best costume design of a play: Jane Greenwood, “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes”

Best costume design of a musical: Santo Loquasto, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best lighting design of a play: Christopher Akerlind, “Indecent”

Best lighting design of a musical: Bradley King, “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”

Best direction of a play: Rebecca Taichman, “Indecent”

Best direction of a musical: Christopher Ashley, “Come From Away”

Best choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler, “Bandstand”

Best orchestrations: Alex Lacamoire, “Dear Evan Hansen”

Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theatre: James Earl Jones

Special Tony Award: Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, sound designers for “The Encounter”

Regional theatre Tony Award: Dallas Theater Center in Dallas, Texas

Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award: Baayork Lee

Tony honors for excellence in theater: Nina Lannan and Alan Wasser

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News Round-Up: May 8, 2017

Some news items you might have missed:

• Pretty fair to say Ryan Kelsey of the Chippendales (above) is ready for summer. Me? #MoreWine

• The Trump campaign has deleted all references to the now-infamous press release stating Donald Trump’s call for the “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States.

• The Texas Senate will soon debate whether the state’s high school athletics organization should be able to disqualify a transgender athlete who is undergoing hormone replacement therapy.

• NPR has a First Listen to the yummy new Broadway cast recording of Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler.

• A Chechen fugitive reports that a gay 17 year-old was thrown off a 9th story balcony by his uncle in order to “wash the shame” from his family.

• Tom Holland, the newest actor to spin a web as “Spiderman,” pulls off a no-holds barred performance on Lip Sync Battle with full-on drag and dance to Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” Watch below.

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Podcast: Celebrating The Return Of HELLO, DOLLY! To Broadway


 Hello, Dolly! is back on Broadway in a brand new, luscious revival starring the effervescent Bette Midler.

In this episode of The Randy Report podcast, I share some history of the classic Broadway blockbuster including how some songs were once cut, and then, restored to the show.

Who knows the songs “Penny In My Pocket,” “Love, Look In My Window,” and “World Take Me Back?” All were once cut from Dolly – guess which one is back in the new revival?

BONUS >>>Listen in as I share Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams’ performance of one of those “trunk songs,” delivered in spectacular fashion, from when she wore the “red dress” in a major production of Hello, Dolly!